Try Something New

We’re in week two of Justin’s first summer hiatus, and there have been regressions and challenges. For the first time in years I’ve had to employ the angel guard on his seatbelt, as he was trying to get out of his seat to rearrange my CDs while I was driving (super fun, I know!). We went back to the days where he’s perseverating on the DVD player by pushing the buttons over and over and over (and over) to the point where the poor thing is going to break. There’s even been a bit of regression with toileting.

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I’ll spare you the details on that one.

But throughout the chaos, there’s been light too.

About four months ago I got the crazy idea that Justin should try two new camps this summer. The truth is over the last five or six years Justin has not been big on trying new things. I am grateful that early on we got him out to places, because I believe that only since they’re now in his repertoire he enjoys time at the beach, Great Adventure, the boardwalks, and a few other locations, even if they’re for minimal amounts of time. To be fair in the last few years options for taking him places have dried up, so there haven’t been many opportunities to stretch him.

But then I heard about these two camps, which coincided with finding out his current camps weren’t running this year. So his momma decided to go for it.

The one camp I wasn’t too worried about was his week of horseback riding, although I knew it would be with totally different people and in a different location from his usual Saturday stint. His first day he hugged me really hard when I said goodbye, but I just knew it would be okay, that he’d acclimate.

He loved it, and they loved him.

Our second attempt into camp world gave me more hesitation. Its activities included soccer, stretching, arts and crafts, all things Justin has traditionally shunned since he turned five. I wasn’t sure he wouldn’t be clutching his aide and plaintively saying “Mama” in an effort to be saved from yoga, but again, he surprised me. They told me he participated in everything, that he loved it.

And again, they loved him and were disappointed I’d only put him in for two days.

Justin is fourteen now, and entering his transition phase. In seven short years (and I’ve been told they go fast) he will be graduating high school, headed for the big unknown. I don’t know what the future will bring for him, if I will be able to find a good day program for him, maybe a small job, eventually a place to live.

But I do know this.

No matter what his adult life entails, he will be asked to try new things, to go to new places, to adjust his routine and acclimate. He will be pushed and stretched to accept a new life, one that does not include his school, or one day living at home with his family.

And the best way I can help him to do that is to push him to stretch his limits now.

So I will continue to do this, even if the paperwork kills me (try applying for a Performcare aide, I dare you.) I will take chances for him, make the zillion appropriate phone calls, fill out the twenty page applications (by hand of course!) and keep trying to give him opportunities to grow. He deserves the most full and rewarding life possible.

And I’m going to do everything I can to see he gets it.

For more on my family visit my blog at autismmommytherapist.wordpress.com